Roads remain closed

Final inspection

A spokeswoman from Royal Berkshire Fire and Rescue service has confirmed a final inspection of the building was due to be held this morning.

She said:

“Following the fire on Queens Street yesterday (12 March) firefighters sent the stop message from the scene at 7:50pm, which means that no more resources were required at the incident, however firefighters remained on the scene overnight damping down and ensuring that there were no hot spots within the building.

2Crews from Royal Berkshire Fire and Rescue Service (RBFRS) reattended at 10am for a final inspection.

“The cause of the fire is unknown at this time, but a joint investigation is being carried out between RBFRS, Thames Valley Police and the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead.”

"No reports of injuries to any members of the public"

Lincoln Ball again:

This fire is causing significant disruption to Maidenhead town centre at the moment and we are likely to be here for the remainder of the day as we are having to fight the fire from the outside with aerial ladder platforms.

We have got the assistance of Buckinghamshire and the London Fire Brigade but we’ve also had a fire service drone up as we are checking the internal conditions of the fire. We’ve got no significant injuries to any firefighters and no reports of injuries to any members of the public.

We’ve got a lot of agencies here because this is a fairly disruptive incident. The police, ambulance, local authority, gas and electricity companies are all here. This fire is causing significant disruption to Maidenhead town centre at the moment and we are likely to be here for the remainder of the day as we are having to fight the fire from the outside with aerial ladder platforms.

We are asking members of the public to not to go in the smoke.

11:39KEY EVENT

"Crews were called just before midnight"

Here’s what Station Manager Lincoln Ball said about the incident.

Crews were called just before midnight. When firefighters arrived they found a developing fire. We put firefighters into the building who did a search and rescue however the conditions in the building got so bad in the middle of the night that we had to pull the firefighters out.

We’ve had a collapse of a roof here and collapse of parts of the internal structure, that’s why we pulled our firefighters out.

11:31

Talk of the town

BBC reporter Rick Kelsey came to Maidenhead to talk about Brexit in the Prime Minister’s constituency. It’s not quite gone to plan.

11:27

'What I’d like to know is how did it happen?'

James has been speaking to eyewitnesses. Nigel Dunn, 49, Gordon Road, Maidenhead. Works as cleaner for town hall: “I work from 6am to 8am cleaning the town hall and I noticed that Broadway was closed so I had to take the long way round to get in. What I’d like to know is how did it happen?”

A woman who worked at Smiggle has had work cancelled due to the fire..

James says that past the cordon it is business is as usual.

11:17

Video from the scene

Reporter James Aldridge has sent back this video from the scene. He’s also got an interview with Station Manager Lincoln Ball to come.

11:08

More from John Oliver

Mr Oliver, from the rapid relief team based in Reading added about the services relationship with the fire service: “We have a relationship with RBFRS, for big incidents we get calls to come and feed them. We have served the fire service members, police and ambulance. The last fire we were at was in Pangbourne, and I personally attended Grenfell. Our organisation (Rapid Relief Team) has also been at the Manchester bombing.”

10:58

Volunteer firefighters are at scene

James has been speaking with some of the volunteer firefighters at the scene.

John Oliver of the rapid relief team, from Reading: “We’ve been here since 10am. We got a call just about 4am to get a team together. It’s all voluntary, and we have normal jobs, but we were able to get a group together and set up at 10am”

10:51

Reporter on the scene

Our reporter James Aldridge has arrived at the scene. He says firefighters are still using their hoses to try to put the fire out. They’ve been on the scene now for nearly nine hours.

Crews still on the scene

Road closures and impact of incident

“There are road closures in place due to the fire in Maidenhead town centre. There are also cordons in place for pedestrians. The Broadway car park is closed due to the fire. Roads closed and affected by the fire are Broadway, Queen Street, King Street, High Street and Park Street. Nicholsons Centre is also shut and Courtney buses will not be running in this area due to the road closures. Please avoid the area if possible.”

09:59

Heavy disruption

Fire crews are still working to put the fire out and warn things aren’t going to be easy around the town.

09:34KEY EVENT

Fire crews likely to be there all day

It looks like it’s going to be a busy day for fire crews.

09:31KEY EVENT

50 firefighters are at the scene

RBFRS says a huge effort is being made to get the fire under control.

09:22

Fire is still blazing

This Twitter user says the fire is still going.

08:51

Police still at scene

Police are still at the scene and are asking people to avoid the area.

08:48

Another shop closure

Thames Hospice has had to shut this morning because of the incident.

08:47

Statement due soon on incident

We’ve just spoken to Royal Berkshire Fire and Rescue Service and a statement on the incident is due to be released soon.